These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious he who knows them not will fail. īy METHOD AND DISCIPLINE are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure. The COMMANDER stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness. ĮARTH comprises distances, great and small danger and security open ground and narrow passes the chances of life and death. HEAVEN signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. The MORAL LAW causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger. These are: (1) The Moral Law (2) Heaven (3) Earth (4) The Commander (5) Method and discipline. The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one's deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the State.

Sun zhus the art of war 3 principles